PCH 28

In this chapter, the claim is made that “the paired concepts of the ‘known’ and respect relate directly to the concepts of the anonymous and untrustworthy in online participatory cultures,” (277). We touch on the fact that there exists valid ethical concerns regarding responsibility for words and actions and that anonymity avoids these constraints but conclude that the contributions to the participatory culture are significant but the identity is not. Ocean raised this question on March 17, 2015: Can the real world knowability of a person affect their respect within online participatory cultures? Nikki says yes so long as those in the online realm know the real world identity of the participant. I agree that knowing a person’s real world identity alters the kind of content he or she feels comfortable posting. As previously stated, anonymity provides escape from accountability. But I also agree that that the problem of anonymity is the question of validity. It’s hard to trust the content provided from an unknown source because we also don’t know that person’s motives in providing accurate information. So to Ocean’s question about the relationship between knowability and respect, I’d say the two a closely linked. An online participatory culture could be led to believe they are following the thoughts of distinguished philosopher about modern entertainment figures later to find out the contributor is a Gossip Columnist who’s paid by the word. This person would have motive to provide pages and pages of lies that stem from a single sentence of truth, if any truths are to be found at all. By disguising his or her identity and effectively removing the knowability component, readers/participators are left with only the content to value.